Spell Marquises
by Twilight Kyu
Summary: Remake of the old fic. Kyuu now lives in town near the famous Mahora Academy. Fate soon befall when the detective otaku meets the child mage, Negi Springfield. Their new bond eventually lead them to solve unnatural cases where magic and fool-proof tricks are involved. What new adventure awaits them?


Hi and welcome to the remake of my story here.

In case if you haven't read the previous fic, I'll give you a brief explanation. This is my first entry of a crossover between my favorite anime series, Detective School Q, and the manga Mahou Sensei Negima. I started to read the latter for a while and I have to admit, it's quite good.

That's when I get the idea of a crossover between my two favorite series, adding elements of magic and mystery.

I decided to remake this because I found a lot of faulty choices and mistakes (such as making Kyuu a 'co-teacher' when he's clearly 15. Plus, he's not that smart when it comes to school works). Not only that, I haven't been working on the story for a long time that I lost the storyline for the fic. Thus, I like to make a fresh start for this fic with a brand new story.

Like the previous one, the fic will feature a few OCs from different authors, but it will also feature a few characters from other existing series.

Right now, we're just going to cover up some of the characters that are going to be in the story. To be more specific, a prologue. We're going to cover the characters and the story in two chapters.

**DISCLAIMER**:  
- Detective School Q is owned by Shin Kibayashi (Penname as Seimaru Amagi).  
- Mahou Sensei Negima is owned by Ken Akamatsu.

So without further ado, enjoy!

-/-

_Magic..._

_People say it's the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation, ceremony, ritual, or the casting of spells._

_It was truly amazing._

_The first time I ever experienced such thing was in that academy._

_Mahora Academy, located in northern Tokyo. A very famous academy, of course, as there are about 30,000 students studying there._

_It was there I met them. That child teacher, those girls, the boys..._

_I'll never forget the long year I spent there._

_All those exciting adventures and those thrilling mysteries, they'll be forever kept in my memories._

_My name is_ _**Kyuu**__. And I recently moved into town near the academy._

-X-

It all begins at a house just across a peaceful suburb. Said house isn't that big but not small either. It has two floors and a small shed on the right.

Currently, it's in the morning.

The people who live in this particular house is a teenager and his mother. The teenager wears a white T-Shirt with blue colored on the shoulders.

That boy is _**Kyuu**_, a mystery otaku. Whatever he likes are always mystery and detective related.

The young teenager, who recently turned 16, is helping out his mother moving a few things into the new house. The boy has just moved a few furniture into the house.

After moving the last of the furniture into the house, Kyuu exits the house and looks at his new surroundings to familiarize his new home. The street, to be exact. He admits that it looks nice from what he has heard. The air is much clearer than the city where he's from.

There aren't many people in the neighborhood, but they seem friendly enough. Whenever some pass by the house, they normally greet Kyuu with a smile though sometimes they approach him to give him a handshake.

His attention turns toward the east across the street. That direction actually leads to a train station. It's not the station that he's interested in, but it's the certain rail that takes its passengers to the famous academy near town.

The young boy has heard of the academy even before arriving his new home.

In fact, Kyuu learned it from back home when he was doing a little research on the town.

With that in mind, Kyuu becomes more interested with the academy. Now he feels like going to visit that place. Sadly, that won't be soon. There are things he has to take care of beforehand.

"Kyuu! I need your help now!" Kyuu's mother suddenly shouts loudly, echoing from inside the house.

"A-Ah! Coming, Mom!" Kyuu immediately gets back inside the house.

_Meanwhile..._

-/-

Welcome to Mahora, everyone.

Many students jump out of the train. Almost immediately, they run toward the school building at an insane speed and might.

The way they march toward their school is like a wild stampede. They've been doing this almost every single day; almost like a tradition if you look at it that way.

Another thing to note is the students. They're quite an interesting bunch, ranging from grade school to university students. In addition, their methods of reaching the building in time are differ. Some prefer to move on wheels using rollerblades or skateboards while others prefer on foot, mostly athletics. What's even stranger is that the students merely see it as a little game or a competition.

Thankfully, most of the staff members are already in the school though not all of them are there on time. One of those is a 10-year-old boy in a clean, gentleman's outfit. He also wears glasses. Surprisingly, he's not just an ordinary boy, but he is also a teacher. Anyone who learns about the child teacher is shocked. A little boy as a teacher? How is that even possible?

Anyway, the boy runs fast as he can to keep up with three girls, who are actually his students. His name is _**Negi Springfield**_.

"Hurry up, Negi! We're almost late!" A girl with long, pony-tailed, orange hair with 'bells' tied on her hair shouts. There are two other girls next to her while running. One has long, brown hair that reaches her waist while the other has black, ponytailed hair. Since they're students, they all wear the same school uniform completed. They are _**Asuna Kagurazaka**_, _**Konoka Konoe**_, and _**Setsuna Sakurazaki**_ respectively.

"I'm coming, Asuna-san!" the little boy exclaims energetically.

While Negi continues to run, he glances at the school building to the front. With a new determination, the child teacher smiles sensing a new adventure lies ahead in the future.

**/-Spell Marquises-\**

Pervenit autem Inquisitor  
_The Detective Arrives_

_Three days later..._

-/-

A lovely day, it is.  
The sky is blue, the sun is shining... What can you possibly ask for more in a day like this?

The house is almost complete.

All the furniture and stuffs are now in the house. Most of the furniture is placed perfectly throughout the new house but not all of them. Some are stored in the back of the house.

As for the house itself, it's slightly clean. Most of the room – mainly the bedrooms and the living room – are cleaned. The dust, the dirt, they're all gone. That is except for a few rooms. The kitchen is still covered with dust and cobwebs.

It will take a few more days to finish tuning up the house.

The two new residents have already checked the tool shed. While it's quite old, the tools inside are still usable. Well, for the most part.

Both their rooms are upstairs, separately.

"What killed him?"  
"Severely battered, on display. The bruises all over him indicate he was beaten to death by a blunt instrument."

Kyuu watches a detective show on TV. As a mystery fanatic, he loves to watch his favorite show every day.

The boy watches the show intently as he faces closer to the TV screen. It's not the suspend that causes him to go that way, he's focused on the scene of the crime and the body. His point of interest on the body is the victim's neck; there is a strangulation mark.

While the characters in the show spout out the obvious and some catchy phrases, Kyuu ponders over the crime scene. Within approximately five seconds, the otaku stands up.

"That's easy!" Kyuu points his index finger at the screen, "The real killer is-"

And the TV is suddenly turned off.

"Eh?"

The teen turns around and finds his mother at the table. Sitting on the chair, the boy's mother has the remote control in hand while her other arm is underneath the table, seemingly to be hiding something. Since when did she get into the living room? And how long was she there?

"Watching that 'Ryuzaki's Noire' again, I see." The boy's mother turns her attention to a digital clock on a nearby shelf. "It's 10 AM and that's the first thing you do for the day?"

"Oh. H-Hi, Mom," Kyuu nervously greets his mother, thinking he's in trouble. He finds himself proven wrong when he notices her warmth expression written on her face.

"Kyuu, can you take a break? I want to talk to you about something," Kyuu's mother said to him.

The boy and his mother gather around at the family table.

"So Kyuu, do you like this place so far?" his mother asks.

"Oh yeah. I like it, Mom! I really like the town so far," Kyuu answers almost immediately. He speaks in a very excited tone as if he was a giddy child. His mother smiles.

"Listen, I got some news," his mother then speaks. "I've just spoken with Aoki-san this morning. She helped me find a job. I'll be going on an interview tomorrow morning. If it goes well, they may hire me."

"Wow, that's really great!"  
The boy's mother smiles. "All thanks to Aoki-san. She had been a great help for the last two weeks."

…

"Kyuu, please listen," Kyuu's mother speaks in a weaker tone accompanied with a concerned expression. She pauses for a moment until she pats her son's right shoulder.

"I know things haven't been easy for you, but it's time for you to move on with your life." The woman said to her son in a confident tone.

The mystery otaku's cheerful expression has lessen, but still retains his outgoing looks. He suddenly turns his head down, pondering.

"You should go outside and make new friends. There are three schools in this town. You should check them out when you have the time. I'm worried about you, Kyuu..."

"I will," Kyuu said with a smile when he sets his sight back at his mother, much to the latter's relief.

"Thank you," she said in a kind tone.

Satisfied, the boy's mother then stands up from her chair as she moves her hand from Kyuu's shoulder.

"As a reward for understanding, here's something you like!" Kyuu's mother suddenly pulls out the hidden thing under the table. The said thing is none other than a book.

"Eh?" Kyuu utters whilst raising an eyebrow.

The boy looks closely at the book's cover. To his surprise, he recognizes it as a novel called 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' a popular mystery story starring the famed Sherlock Holmes.

"W-Whoa!" Kyuu shouts in awe as his mother gives the book to him. "Aoki-san knew that you really love detective stories, so she thought you might like this."

"This is... Really for me?" Kyuu asks while looking at the novel intently. Kyuu's mother nods with a smile.

"And it's one of the few original prints from 1902 to boot," the boy's mother adds.

Hearing the fact from his mother has silences Kyuu. It's really a big surprise to see an original print; holding the very book in his hands. His eyes sparkle with delight and his mouth is slightly opened.

"T-Thanks, Mom," Kyuu said while still in awe, looking at the book. He immediately flips open the book and starts reading the first page.

"If you're interested, you can visit the bookstore where she bought that novel," Kyuu's mother suddenly speaks up, interrupting her son's reading. The boy turns his attention to his mother. "You have to take the train to reach there, though."

"The train? It's out of town?" Kyuu raises his eyebrow again.

The middle-aged mother nods as a response. "Aoki-san bought that book from..."

-/-

_The next day..._

...

"Here?"

Kyuu arrives at a bookstore the next day in the afternoon.

What day is it? It's Friday.

The store is rather quiet and the surrounding street has little people. It's a bit surprising because the bookstore appears to be in good condition. It's probably been renovated recently.

As for the area itself, not much interesting shops. There's also a small enclosure nearby, containing an ATM machine. Currently, someone is using it.

While there aren't many people in the street, there are two people walking around. One is a middle-aged man carrying a suitcase while the other is a young, ordinary woman.

Where is Kyuu right now? Well, he's in **Mahora Academy**.

The mystery otaku couldn't believe when he'd heard from his mother about the bookstore located in the famous academy. It's not like it's a bad thing, it is a good thing. It's just unexpected. Pure coincidence, as they say. Perhaps it's fate?

Either way, it's a good opportunity to set foot at such a famous academy. To his surprise, Mahora Academy is huge. Even more so than any other academies in Japan. The bookstore is at the **Old Books District**, located far east of the train station.

On the way, Kyuu catches a few glimpses of the academy. He can tell that Mahora is far bigger than he thought. It seems like a great place to stay, even Kyuu admits that he likes to move into the academy instead. Unfortunately, they don't have enough cash to move in.

It takes about half an hour to reach the store; fifteen minutes to reach the academy by train and another fifteen minutes to find the bookstore.

As a detective and mystery fan, the otaku boy can't resist the urge to visit the store.

With that said and done, Kyuu enters the bookstore.

The store is exactly like any other bookstores albeit big. There are bookshelves all over the place, divided into different sections. Most of the displayed books are dated from the 80s and even a few from the 90s. There are a few modern literature too.

From the door, the young teenager can see the counter on the right and the shelves in the opposite side.

In the counter, the boy finds the store's owner who appears to be middle-aged man with a butch cut hairstyle with a short goatee. The man's eyes are colored blue.

Only a very few customers are in the store, mostly young adults. Not many A lot of the customers are at the Fantasy section, looking at the classical series of books known as Radiant Legends. The most famous of the series is the 'Lost Kingdom.' For the rest, they're at the Drama section.

Kyuu looks around his surroundings, hoping to find his favorite genre: mysteries and detectives.

However, the boy can't find it in the front row. He guesses the Mystery section is either in the back or the middle row.

The young otaku turns his attention to the owner. Unfortunately, the store's owner is talking to a pair of customers about a drama novel. Seeing the conversation is long, Kyuu decides to look for the section himself.

As soon as he turns around, he stumbles across a young, handsome man in a long, black coat. Underneath the coat is a white sleeveless shirt. The man appears to be 20 years old or probably 19.

Suddenly, the man in the black coat approaches Kyuu. "Let me guess," the young man utters in a calm tone, "You're looking for the Mystery section, aren't you?"

"Eh? How can you tell?"  
"Oh, I can tell it from the look of your face."

"You could say... I'm a good judge of character," the handsome stranger said. He smiles with his right eye closed. "I can also tell that you're not from around here."

Kyuu's eyebrows raised in surprised, seeing that the stranger guessed it right. "Could you... Possibly be a psychic?" the new kid suddenly asks with his eyes dotted.

"Say what?" the stranger utters in surprised.

…

The young boy in the black coat chuckles. "Funny hearing that. Maybe I am a psychic after all," the stranger jokes.

"But yeah, I'm not from around here," Kyuu starts to talk with the stranger. "I've recently moved into town nearby. I just come to Mahora for a little visit."

"I see. So you're from the city," the young stranger smiles. He guessed it right again. "But you picked the right place to stay. Trust me, Mahora Academy is full of surprises. Everyday, there bound to be something exciting happen. If you can, you should hang around here everyday. Who knows, maybe it'll happen sooner or later. I'm sure that you won't regret it."

The stranger turns around and points his index finger at the uttermost left, just after the Drama section. "You can find the Mystery section there," he said.

"Uuh... Thanks," Kyuu utters.

"No problem. See you around," the stranger smiles again before he walks past the otaku boy. The former makes his way to the door and exits the store.

"_Are the people in Mahora really that kind?"_ Kyuu turns around and glances at the exit, pondering about the stranger.

Afterwards, Kyuu makes his way to the book store's Mystery section. This has to be the place where his mother's friend, Aoki, bought the book.

Before the detective fanatic has the chance to examine the books on display, he suddenly hear someone yelling. The yell surprises Kyuu, causing him to jump. It also gains the attention of the other customers and the store's owner.

"_W-What? Something happened?"_

Kyuu quickly makes his way, exiting the store and into the street.

Once in the street, he finds someone with a girl and a very young boy...

* * *

_Earlier that same day..._

...

The bell has rang. Thus, school has started.

In Class 3-A, there are many female students. Apparently, their teacher is a bit late for reasons unknown. Due to the absence of their teacher, the girls decide to talk with each other while waiting.

The classroom is quite big since the total number of Class 3-A students is 31.

Currently, the girls are talking about the recent popularity of a mystery graphic novel series called 'The Wind and the City.'

"R-Really?" Some girls ask a cute girl with pink, pigtailed-styled hair. Her name is _**Makie Sasaki**_, an athletic girl who's quite an airhead but still sweet. She nods.

"Yeah. Our coach has recently bought all four books and she got hooked into it. Now she's waiting for the fifth next week," Makie said to her friends.

The girls talking to the airheaded girl are her friends who are also athletes. One includes _**Yuuna Akashi**_, an easy going, laidback basketball player. Another one is _**Ako Izumi**_, a shy student who works as the school nurse's assistant. Lastly, there's _**Akira Okouchi**_, the tallest and most mature of the group who's a very talented swimmer.

"Is the series any good?" Yuuna asks, interested with the mystery series.

Makie nods.

"She said it's very good," Makie answers. "She really likes the main character Kiriyama, the plot, the mysteries, the setting..."

And the list goes on from there.

The athletic girls aren't the only ones discussing the graphic novel series.

In the front row from Makie and her friends are three attractive girls, who are actually cheerleaders. One of them is _**Misa Kakizaki**_, the leader of the trio and loves to shop. The other is _**Sakurako Shiina**_, the most cheerful of the three and adores karaoke. The last is _**Madoka Kugimiya**_, the most serious of the girls and generally enjoys Western music.

"Eeeehhh? You read The Wind and the City too?" Sakurako said loudly.

"So you borrowed the first volume from your boyfriend, Misa?" Madoka asks.

"He just never stopped talking about it, so I have to know why he really loves it," Misa answers her fellow cheerleader. "And no wonder he loves it so much. It's actually great!"

Seating in the rearmost row is the class' computer expert, _**Chisame Hasegawa**_, who's not exactly interested with the growing popularity of The Wind and the City. In fact, nothing seems to interest her except for one certain thing. She looks at her classmates in disdain.

"Detective?"  
"Detective ~desu?"

The Narutaki twins, _**Fuuka**_ and _**Fumika**_, utter the word as they hear the groups talking about the detective novel. Accompanying the twins is their fellow classmate and roommate, _**Kaede Nagase**_. The three of them seated together in the uttermost left corner of the class.

After hearing a few things about the popular mystery series, it sparks the twins' interest.

"You know, we should be ninja detectives!" Fuuka suggests.  
"Yeah, and solve many weird mysteries ~desu!" Fumika complies.

Keeping a smile and her calm, gentle manner, Kaede pats both the twins by their heads. She always keep her eyes closed though somehow can still see. "That sounds great, de gozaru," she said as she leans her head closer to the twins. "But you do realize that it's very dangerous, de gozaru?"

"Eh?"  
"There's more than just solving mysteries. It's a job where you're always in danger, de gozaru."

"D-Danger?" both Fuuka and Fumika said with a surprised look on their faces.

At the same time, the class' gentle cook, _**Satsuki Yotsuba**_, is handing her classmates with some snacks. Helping her is a Chinese classmate who's a genius and specializes in Chinese delicacies. Her name is _**Chao Lingshen**_. While casually handing some tasty snacks, they listen to their friends' conversation of the novel series.

Chao and Satsuki eventually meet up with another classmate, who's currently making plans for her latest invention. Her name is _**Satomi Hakase**_, the genius inventor and Chao's best friend.

Of course, there are those who aren't interested with the novel series just like Chisame. Two of the students distance themselves from the rest. They are _**Mana Tatsumiya**_, the tallest of the class who lives at a shrine, and _**Zazie Rainyday**_, a very mysterious girl whom everyone in class barely knows. They're not what one can describe as sociable, obviously.

Other than Mana and Zazie, there are other two girls. Unlike the former, those girls are socializing with each other, but not with the other students. One is a small girl who's a foreigner while the other is taller who's actually a robot, with most of her robotic parts exposed clearly. They are _**Evangeline A.K. McDowell**_ and _**Chachamaru Karakuri**_ respectively.

"I'm bored..." a girl with short gray hair moans with her head lying on the desk. Her name is _**Misora Kasuga**_. "Other than this detective novels, aren't there anything interesting lately?"

Surrounding Misora are the gentle, motherly figure _**Chizuru Naba**_ (who has quite the large breasts) and the sweet actress _**Natsumi Murakami**_.

"Umm... I don't think so," Natsumi said meekly.

"We know something interesting," a voice suddenly said. From the sound of it, it's coming from behind Misora, Chizuru, and Natsumi. The trio turns their head around. They find a short girl with long, blue hair while drinking an odd juice box. She is _**Yue Ayase**_. Beside her is her best friends _**Nodoka Miyazaki**_, a very shy, introverted bookworm, and _**Haruna Saotome**_, the class' rumormonger and manga artist.

The thing to note is that Yue has a certain book on her desk. That book is none other than the first volume of the Wind and the City novel series. The cover has the picture of a city at nighttime in a noir style. Said title is imprinted in the middle with the little subtitle '_Around Every Corner_.' In the upper left corner, a small title 'A Hard Boiled Mystery' is imprinted.

"Wait 'til you hear this!" Haruna said with a grin.

"Dan Detective School," Yue flat out said before sipping her drink.

"A... What?" Misora utters.

"It's an academy for detectives," Yue said again.

"Eeeehhhhh?!" Misora, along some of the classmates around them, shouted in unison with surprised look on their faces.

Asuna, who's also among the students in Class 3-A, immediately approaches Yue and her companions. "Is that really true?!" she asks loudly.

"Ummm..." Nodoka speaks up meekly in place for her friend, Yue. "That is true. Dan Detective School, or DDS for short, is a renowned detective academy founded by Morihiko Dan, the most famous detective in Japan. "Many people had tried the entrance exams and only very few made it," Nodoka explains to her fellow classmates.

Learning the existence of an actual detective school, the girls are in awe. The twins suddenly appear right in front of the shy bookworm. How did they do it? That can be anyone's guess.

"Do they teach detectives to be ninjas?" the twins quickly ask in unison.

"Eh? I... Don't think so," Nodoka answers.

"Aaawwwww..." The twins moan in dismay.

"There's more to it," Haruna suddenly speaks, gaining her friends' full attention.

"While the way they handle classes are similar with other schools, they have one very special class," cue to Haruna raising her index finger as she pauses for a moment. "And that's Class Q."

"Class Q?" the girls utter simultaneously.

"It's actually stand for 'Class Qualification.' The kids in that class are supposedly the potential candidates to succeed Morihiko Dan himself in the future," Haruna explains.

Among the students is the silly, fun-loving Chinese warrior girl, _**Ku Fei**_. "You mean they have super detective skills, aru?"

A lot of the students certainly take interest with the library trio's knowledge of DDS, something they'd never heard of before. Of course, not all of them are interested, mainly Chisame.

"First, some mystery series gotten popular and now there's a school for detectives?" a girl named _**Kazumi Asakura**_, the class' paparazzi, is stunned after hearing about DDS. She's in the foremost front row to the left.

While Kazumi may looked like she's alone in her seat, she's actually not. Seated beside her is a ghostly figure of a girl. Since she's a ghost, none of the students can see her. People tend to think ghosts are scary, but this particular ghost is different. Her name is _**Sayo Aisaka**_.

"Say, this is only a rumor but you gotta know this," Haruna suddenly speaks up to all of her fellow classmates. "But there's this rumor going on at DDS, it's about Class-"

Unfortunately, Haruna is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the class' child teacher, Negi Springfield. It prompts all the students to return to their respective seats.

"Everyone," the elegant, beautiful class president, _**Ayaka Yukihiro**_, prompts her fellow classmates to stand and greet their teachers.

"Good morning, sensei!" the entire class said in unison.

"Good morning, everyone," Negi said back with a kind smile.

-/-

Very few teachers are still at the teacher's lounge. That's mostly because their classes haven't started yet so they take their time to either prepare for their class or have a little break before so.

Among the teachers is a man in his early 30s. For his appearance, he has short black hair and green eyes. He's quite tall, to boot. The man actually works here for a long time, having taught history for as long as he can remember.

He was forced to move from Mahora to the states due to personal family matters. He had been gone for nearly six months, and now he has returned.

The man, at his desk, is checking a student roster for one of the upper classes. He stares at a particular girl.

"Haro-san," a voice calls out the man's name. Said teacher turns his head around and finds _**Takamachi Takahata**_, one of the senior teachers in Mahora.

"How are you holding up?" Takahata kindly asks while waving his hand.

"Fine, Takahata-san," the man, whose name is actually _**Haro Morogi**_, answers back. He also closes the student roster and puts it back on his table.

"Everything's exactly the same. The school, the houses, the park..." Haro pauses, taking the time to reminisce the memories of Mahora. "It's great to be back home."

"So Takahata-san, tell me about this child teacher," Haro speaks up.

"Negi-kun? Ah, he's a good teacher for his age. He's very determined about his work and makes sure he gets everything right over the small details. One of the best teachers we ever had here," Takahata explains.

"Is that so? I see," Haro said, intrigued with Negi. He notes that it's really unusual for a boy, let alone a 10-year-old, to become a teacher for some middle-school level students. Especially in the all-girls' school.

He has thoughts of meeting the little boy after school. In a few minutes, he has to go to his class.

From that very moment, another teacher approaches. This particular teacher is different than Takahata and Haro. He has a very muscular appearance accompanied with a serious expression. Everyone can tell that the man is a serious person, a very stern type. His distinctive feature is a huge scar on his face. His other facial features are his black, neatly hair and green eyes.

This particular stoic man is actually new. He has signed in for the job as a math teacher a couple of months ago.

"Takahata-san, if I may speak with you privately," the stern teacher calls.

The senior teacher pauses for a moment.

"You're... _**Tarou Mitsuta**_, correct?"

The new teacher nods while keeping his stern expression.

Takata turns his attention to Haro. "Sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you around," the senior teacher said before he departs with Tarou Mitsuta.

Haro merely smiles before he departs to class.

-/-

_Later that day..._

…

Nearly all of the girls sigh in relief. The study materials this time is even harder.

However, they rejoice since it's Friday, which means no school for the next two days.

The girls are excited for the weekends as they have many plans for the coming days. Some want to go shopping, some like to go goofing around at karaokes, and some just want to stay at home.

However, someone among them doesn't have time to relax just yet because she has a little errand at a certain district. In fact, there are very few girls who are busy as well, probably their after school activities.

While the girls are leaving the classroom, Negi is packing his things before departure. His notes, his student roster, those sort of things.

As soon as the child teacher is done packing his things, he sees one of his students, Yue, is still in the class reading the detective novel. It seems that she's nearly done reading the entire book.

"Yue-san, what're you reading?" Negi asks, making his way toward Yue.

"This? It's just a novel, it has gotten quite popular lately," Yue answers as she suddenly closes the book. She then hands the novel to her younger teacher.

Negi stares at the book's cover. From the looks of the cover, the child teacher can tell that the book is a detective novel. "To my surprise, it's actually good," Yue suddenly said, gaining Negi's attention.

"It's not just the story, but the characters are likable and it has all the details clear. They actually set up the mystery quite well," Yue tells Negi.

Intrigued, the child teacher opens the book and turns the pages to the first chapter. He immediately begins to read.

For fifteen minutes, Negi continues to read until he is fascinated with the graphic novel. It's quite addicting as one might say.

Yue notices that her teacher seems to like the book just by looking at his face.

"Negi-sensei," she suddenly calls her teacher to gain his attention. "If you like, you can borrow it."

"Eh? R-Really?" Negi looks completely surprised.

"Yeah, I mean it. I just finished the first book and I have two more books to read at the dorm. They said that it gets better and better," Yue explains.

Negi is glad to hear that. Just reading the first few pages, he's interested with the mystery series. He promises that he'll return the book as soon as he's finished.

Speaking of books, the 10-year-old boy remembers something.

-/-

Negi walks across a street, on his way to a certain shop. In fact, he's at the **Old Books District**.

There's an antique shop somewhere in the district called "Ushinawa Takara."

People say that the shop has some very interesting antiques with the majority of them are from 16th century of Feudal Japan. They're probably some old books and memoirs from that time period. The child teacher has plans to visit the shop as he likes to look at the antiques.

Unfortunately, the 10-year-old has no idea of the store's location. He could ask some civilians passing through the street, if the street wasn't empty.

In fact, not many people visit the district. The street almost bears resemblance to a ghost town, but not in a creepy way.

He walks endlessly from a street to another. No results, as he hasn't found the store. At this rate, he'll arrive at the store by night; that's when the store is closed.

After ten minutes of searching at a street, Negi decides to go elsewhere. Hopefully, he has better luck with other places.

Negi turns and starts to walk his way.

The child teacher eventually comes across another street where he finds two people walking around. In addition, he finds a small enclosure containing an ATM machine. Currently, someone is using it.

Coincidentally, a certain book store is located nearby.

Even more coincidence, Negi spots his guardian, Asuna, in the street.

"_What's Asuna-san doing here?_" Negi wonders. Knowing her, she's not the type who would go around in the old district.

As soon as Negi steps forward, the man exits quickly from the ATM enclosure as he slips some money to his pocket. He's such in a hurry that he doesn't pay attention to the front. He runs.

It doesn't take long for the man to bump into Asuna by accident. The impact causes the man to drop his money. Tons of banknotes are scattered on the ground. "Hey, you brat!" the man yells angrily, "Watch where you going!"

"S-Sorry!" Asuna is quick to apologize. She immediately picks up the money on the ground.

Negi, having witnessed about everything, immediately runs toward Asuna's side. He then begins to help her by picking up the money.

"Negi? What're you doing here?" Asuna, surprised to see Negi, whispers at the boy's ear. "I was about to ask you the same thing," Negi whispers back.

The commotion has attracted the two bystanders. They just stand there, watching.

In a few moments, a few people exit from the nearby bookstore, having heard the loud yell from the inside.

Unbeknown to Negi and Asuna, a boy with a weird hair also arrives at the commotion.

* * *

Negi and Asuna continue to pick up the money. They're nearly done gathering them.

The boy in the crowd, Kyuu, watches the scene closely. Just by looking at the pair and the man causes the new kid to experience a flashback. Deja vu, as he likes to call.

However, something catches Kyuu's attention. He notices something odd with the man in front of the girl and the little boy. The man's mouth flexes upward.

"_Did... Did he just..._" Kyuu wonders with a bewildered expression.

At the same time, Negi picks up a banknote. Looking closely, he notices there's something odd about the bill that separates it from the rest of the man's money. Unfortunately, Asuna snatches the bill from Negi's hand along with the rest the latter picked.

"Negi, what're you doing?!" Asuna whispers, scolding Negi for wasting time. She then hands over the money back to the man. "Sorry about it," she said politely as she bows her head.

The man doesn't respond to her apology. The stranger centers his attention to his money, proceeding to count them.

…

"Huh? Hey!" the man suddenly yells.

"Thirty thousand yen's missing!"

That clearly surprises Negi and Asuna. Not to mention, the innocent bystanders including Kyuu.

"You two!" the man points at the pair, "You stole it, didn't you?!"

"E-Eeehhh?" both Negi and Asuna shout in surprised simultaneously. "Wait, we wouldn't never do that!" the latter exclaims.

"Don't lie to me!" the man retorts.

The sudden accusation completely surprises Kyuu. Not only it gives him a little moment of deja vu, he notices something incredibly odd about the man's denunciation.

From that moment, Negi soon notices Kyuu in the crowd while Asuna argues with the man. It also prompts the new kid to look back at the child teacher.

They have a brief moment of staring each other...

_**To be continued...**_


End file.
